Accessing functions in a cell template with a NetStim

[neuromau]

Hi, I have an artificial cell template that contains a NetStim. I added an "is_art" function to this cell template, but when I try to access it from the parallel context, NEURON is looking for it to be part of the NetStim within the cell template, instead of just a function available as part of the cell instance. Here is my cell definition:

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begintemplate ppspont
	public pp, is_art, acell, connect_pre
	create acell
	objref pp

	proc init() {
		actemp() 	
	}
	proc actemp() {
		acell pp = new MyNetStim(.5)
	}
	func is_art() {return 1}
	proc connect_pre() {acell $o2 = new NetCon(pp, $o1)}	
endtemplate ppspont

Then I create an instance of this cell template, and is_art works fine. But when I associate the cell with a gid and then try to recreate the cell object from the gid using the parallel context, is_art no longer works:

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{load_file("nrngui.hoc")}
{load_file("netparmpi.hoc")}
ncell=1
objref pnm, pc, nc, nil
proc parallelizer() {
	pnm = new ParallelNetManager(ncell)
	pc = pnm.pc
	pnm.round_robin()
}
parallelizer()

pc.nhost // returns 1

objref mycell
mycell = new ppspont()
mycell.is_art() // works fine, returns 1
objref nc
mycell.connect_pre(nil, nc)
pc.cell(0, nc)
pc.gid_exists(0) // returns 1
objref thecell
thecell = pc.gid2cell(0)
thecell.is_art() // errors out with the error:
// is_art not a public member of MyNetStim
// nrniv: MyNetStim is_art

Do I need to edit "MyNetStim" and create an is_art function in there or is there a way I can make the pc.gid2cell generated object's functions available?

[ted]

Short answer is yes, MyNetStim must have a public is_art() if you want thecell.is_art() to succeed. I verified this by trying the code you provided (after the expedient of changing
acell pp = new MyNetStim(.5)
to
acell pp = new NetStim(.5)
since I didn't have your MyNetStim template). Sure enough,

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oc>objref thecell
oc>thecell=pc.gid2cell(0)
oc>thecell
	NetStim[0]

I'm curious about why your ppspont template bothers to create a dummy section--what purpose does acell serve?

[neuromau]

Short answer is yes, MyNetStim must have a public is_art() if you want thecell.is_art() to succeed.

Okay, I added the following to my MyNetStim.mod file and recompiled, now I can use "thecell.is_art()" with an object created by the pc.gid2cell function:

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FUNCTION is_art() {
	is_art=1
}

what purpose does acell serve?

None, as far as I can tell. I just removed it without any issues. Not sure why it was in there; grandfathered in from work by a previous coder. Thanks for noticing that.